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Wytheville, Virginia
|footnotes = | border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 0 0 0 0; background: #f9f9f9;" }} Wytheville ( ) is a town in, and the county seat of, Wythe County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,211 at the 2010 census. History Wythe County was created in 1789 and named for George Wythe, the "father of American Jurisprudence" and signer of the Declaration of Independence. In May 1790, Chris Simmerman donated 90 acres, along with John Davis's 10 acres, to establish a town and county seat. Robert Adams completed a town survey in November of that year, dividing the area into half-acre lots. The town didn't have an official name yet, but was generally known as Wythe Court House. Two years later, in October 1792, the town was officially named Evansham, for prominent local citizen Jesse Evans. After a disastrous fire in March 1839, the town was renamed Wytheville. At that time, it was home to about 500 residents. Polio epidemic What started off as a few cases of infantile paralysis during the summer of 1950 swelled into the hundreds. Out of the 5,513 inhabitants of the town,U.S. Department of Commerce, “Characteristics of the Population,” Census of Population: 1950, vol. 2, part 46 (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1953) 184 people contracted the disease with 17 fatalities.J. Robert Anderson, ed., Virginia Health Bulletin 3, no. 12, series 2 (Richmond, VA: Virginia State Department of Health, April 1951) From the beginning of June until the end of August, parents kept children inside and large gatherings were cancelled to diminish the chance of infection. As the epidemic progressed, ambulances drove victims approximately trip to Memorial Crippled Children’s Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia. Hearses from local funeral homes were used when ambulances were unavailable. Black patients with polio were repeatedly denied admission to Roanoke’s hospital and were forced to make the approximately trip drive to St. Philip’s Hospital in Richmond. The Town Council erected billboards at all five entrances to the county warning potential visitors of the epidemic and urging tourists to come again the following year. By the end of the summer, unknown assailants stole or demolished all five billboards. Though the Town Council offered a reward for information, no one came forward. 2009 hostage crisis The local post office became the site of a hostage crisis on 23 December 2009, when a man named Warren Taylor entered pushing a wheelchair and claiming to be carrying explosives. Taylor took three hostages and fired several shots before negotiators convinced him to give himself up. Historic District The Crockett's Cove Presbyterian Church, Haller-Gibboney Rock House, Loretto, St. John's Episcopal Church, St. John's Lutheran Church and Cemetery, Wythe County Poorhouse Farm, and Wytheville Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Geography Wytheville is located at (36.947679, −81.086955). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which (0.14%) is water. Wytheville is an important point on both I-77 and I-81 and lies amidst a wrong-way concurrency of I-77 and I-81. It is located about halfway between Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia and Roanoke. On the I-77 corridor, it is located about halfway between Charleston, West Virginia and Charlotte, North Carolina. The nearby community of Fort Chiswell is the control city for the northbound traffic on I-77 coming from Charlotte, Statesville, Elkin, and Mount Airy, North Carolina. In the near future, Interstate 74 will go through Wytheville in addition to the two other interstates. Due to the confluence of I-77, I-81 and several U.S. Highways, and its location in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Wytheville is known as "The Hub of Southwest Virginia" and "the Crossroads of the Blue Ridge". Climate Due to its elevation, the climate of Wytheville is either classified as mountain temperate or humid continental (Köppen Cfb or Dfb, respectively), and the town straddles the border between USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6B and 7A. Summers are warm and humid, although significantly cooler than low-elevation places within the state, with only 4.6 days of + highs annually, and winters are generally cool to cold with occasional intervening warm periods and 11 nights of sub- lows. Monthly mean temperatures range from in January to in July. Snowfall averages per season and generally occurs from December to March. (1981–2010 normals) |single line = Y |Jan high F = 41.2 |Feb high F = 45.5 |Mar high F = 54.2 |Apr high F = 63.9 |May high F = 72.2 |Jun high F = 79.1 |Jul high F = 82.7 |Aug high F = 82.1 |Sep high F = 75.9 |Oct high F = 66.3 |Nov high F = 56.1 |Dec high F = 44.4 |year high F= 63.7 |Jan low F = 20.2 |Feb low F = 22.3 |Mar low F = 28.0 |Apr low F = 36.0 |May low F = 45.2 |Jun low F = 54.2 |Jul low F = 58.2 |Aug low F = 56.9 |Sep low F = 49.3 |Oct low F = 37.4 |Nov low F = 29.3 |Dec low F = 22.9 |year low F= 38.4 |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation inch = 2.90 |Feb precipitation inch = 2.80 |Mar precipitation inch = 3.24 |Apr precipitation inch = 3.22 |May precipitation inch = 4.11 |Jun precipitation inch = 3.57 |Jul precipitation inch = 3.75 |Aug precipitation inch = 3.44 |Sep precipitation inch = 3.19 |Oct precipitation inch = 2.69 |Nov precipitation inch = 2.73 |Dec precipitation inch = 2.78 |year precipitation inch= | Jan snow inch = 6.7 | Feb snow inch = 6.1 | Mar snow inch = 2.4 | Apr snow inch = 1.0 | May snow inch = 0 | Jun snow inch = 0 | Jul snow inch = 0 | Aug snow inch = 0 | Sep snow inch = 0 | Oct snow inch =trace | Nov snow inch = 0.3 | Dec snow inch = 4.0 |year snow inch=20.5 |unit precipitation days = 0.01 in | Jan precipitation days = 10.2 | Feb precipitation days = 9.8 | Mar precipitation days = 10.8 | Apr precipitation days = 11.3 | May precipitation days = 12.8 | Jun precipitation days = 11.8 | Jul precipitation days = 11.7 | Aug precipitation days = 10.2 | Sep precipitation days = 9.2 | Oct precipitation days = 8.6 | Nov precipitation days = 9.1 | Dec precipitation days = 10.0 |year precipitation days= |unit snow days = 0.1 in | Jan snow days = 3.6 | Feb snow days = 2.9 | Mar snow days = 1.3 | Apr snow days = 0.5 | May snow days = 0 | Jun snow days = 0 | Jul snow days = 0 | Aug snow days = 0 | Sep snow days = 0 | Oct snow days = 0 | Nov snow days = 0.3 | Dec snow days = 2.4 |year snow days =11.0 |source 1 = NOAA }} Demographics |footnote= U.S. Decennial Census }} As of the census of 2000, there were 7,804 people, 3,504 households, and 2,112 families residing in the town. The population density was 546.8 people per square mile (211.2/km²). There were 3,776 housing units at an average density of 264.6 per square mile (102.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.76% White, 7.19% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.33% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population. There were 3,504 households out of which 22.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.4% were married couples living together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.7% were non-families. 36.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11 and the average family size was 2.72. In the town the population was spread out with 19.3% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 22.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 78.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $28,043, and the median income for a family was $41,513. Males had a median income of $28,160 versus $21,282 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,223. About 10.0% of families and 14.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.5% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over. Places of interest * The Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace * Big Walker Lookout Tower, a 100-foot observation tower located12 miles to the north of Wytheville *The town is home to a Chautauqua Festival, held the third weekend in June every year since 1985. The Festival features live concerts, stage magic, arts and crafts, hot air ballooning, dance, children's activities and diverse carnival-style food. The presence of the hot air balloons for the yearly festival inspired the balloon-themed painting of the town's water tower, visible to I-81 travellers near the I-77 interchange. The Festival is held at Elizabeth Brown Memorial Park and is cosponsored by the county, town and the Wythe Arts Council.Fussell, pg. 92 Notable people * David French Boyd, president of Louisiana State University, 1877-1880; 1884-1886, born in Wytheville in 1834 * Thomas Duckett Boyd, president of LSU from 1886 (interim) and 1896 to 1926, born in Wytheville in 1854, brother of David French Boyd * William Gibson, writer, spent much of his childhood there * Frederick Bittle Kegley, Wythe County historian * E. Lee Trinkle, Governor of Virginia * James Walker, Lt. Governor of Virginia; Confederate General * Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, second wife of President Woodrow Wilson * Robert E. Withers, former U.S. Senator, Lt. Governor Virginia, first American Ambassador to China References Further reading * External links * Visit Wytheville (Visitor's guide, history, and other resources) Category:21st-century Chautauquas Category:Towns in Wythe County, Virginia Category:Towns in Virginia Category:County seats in Virginia Category:U.S. Route 11